The Unraveling
by blindbat1192
Summary: Everything they knew about reality is about to come crashing down. Truths will be revealed, secrets will come out, and sides will be taken. All because one man couldn't stop questioning who he was or why he felt out of place. Rated T for some taboo subjects in the near future (not overly graphic, but not for the faint of heart).
1. Fresh Start

**Hey guys, just want to say a few things before I get this fanfic started.**

**First off, the idea for this story is partially based on an actual work of fiction I had written a long time ago. I thought it might be interesting to incorporate that story into a fanfiction, and since I've done plenty of Jimmy Neutron for a while, I figure I'd do it for another show I like...Rugrats/AGU (yes, eventually the Rugrats will be shown as they were as babies, but for the most part, the story takes place during the AGU era).**

**Second, though this is a Rugrats/AGU fanfic, I like throwing in some cameos and mention a few other people from different shows such as I did with this first chapter (which hopefully there will be a lot of). Finally, so far the only characters I own are Errol and Ashley. Everyone else belongs to their respective copyright owners. Oh, and enjoy!**

* * *

_Darkness. That's the first thing I ever remembered. Well, that and a lot of strange people surrounding me. Of course, I never saw any of their faces. Or put it this way…I don't remember. The only ones I remember were two that weren't wearing typical lab attire._

"_Keep them secure," the dark bearded one would say._

"_Don't let it touch anything," added the one with the red hair._

_I could feel myself being pushes on some sort of cot, and the hallways were a little chilly. But one thing that sticks with me is the person I see in the cot directly next to me. He was short yet solid, though most of his body was covered in bandages. His head was bandaged and there were blotches of dried blood on them. I couldn't look at myself, but I figured I looked the same way, based on how I felt. He had slight stubble and dark sideburns, which made him look young. Despite this, however, he had the oldest eyes I had ever seen. They were bright green, yet he had a good share of sags underneath, and his eyes looked weary, as if he had seen all there was to see. I never met the man, yet it bothered me to see him in that condition._

* * *

Getting off the bus for school in the second week of the second semester of the school year, Tommy Pickles followed his best friend Chuckie Finster towards their respective lockers, which were conveniently right next to each other. They were soon joined by Phil DeVille and his twin sister Lil, other friends of theirs.

"I still think Pangborn knows it was you guys that started yesterday's food fight," said Chuckie, grabbing a chemistry book out of his locker.

"Dude, chillax," replied Phil, "We're just two guys out of a cafeteria full of a couple hundred other kids!"

"Yeah," said Tommy, "How's Pangborn gonna pin it on us?"

No sooner did Tommy ask when the intercom projected the gruff voice of Vice Principal Estes Pangborn with some less than good news.

"Tommy Pickles and Phil DeVille to my office now!" he shouted over the intercom.

"Told you," said Chuckie with a smug 'I-told-you-so' grin.

"How would Pangborn have found out about that?" asked Tommy.

"How would anyone?" asked Phil in response.

Lil sighed at her brother's ridiculous antics and muttered, "Some boys just don't know when to grow up."

* * *

Tommy and Phil sat in front of Pangborn's office desk awaiting their unholy punishment. No one could ever tell what they were to expect from Pangborn. On one end of the room, there were photos of his days as a wrestler and both his child psychology degrees. The other side consisted of poetry books and a plant named Elmira he had since college.

"Mr. Pangborn, can you even _prove_ we're the ones that started that food fight?" asked Tommy.

Pangborn cracked his knuckles before leaning in towards the smaller, purple-haired boy that seemingly questioned his authority.

"I don't need to," replied Pangborn, "I was tipped off that it was you two…that, and I have a photo _clearly_ showing you two in the food fight."

Pangborn pulled out the photo of Tommy and Phil with pie slices in each of their hands with other people surrounding them throwing or being hit by the chocolate-chip meatloaf (courtesy of their less than ordinary chef Pepe).

_That can't possibly prove we started it_, thought Tommy, and he was about to say it to Pangborn.

"Man, who'd have thought someone would be smart enough to get pictures of us starting the food fight?" asked Phil.

As Tommy slapped his hand on his forehead, Pangborn roared, "Aha! It _was_ you two! Trash duty for two weeks!"

"Phil…" muttered Tommy, looking ready to strangle him.

"Eh heh, oops?"

Phil pulled his collar breaking a nervous sweat as one of the office workers walked in with a student inside his office.

"This him?" asked Pangborn.

The red-haired office worker simply nodded her head and left the office.

"I've already been made aware of your situation," said Pangborn, organizing some papers to give to the student, "Or at least what I'm allowed to know. If you head towards the gym from here, your first class will be on the second door to your right."

"Sounds simple enough," the new guy said.

Tommy and Phil were just a little more than surprised that someone who looked as young as them could have such a deep, raspy voice. Add that to his broad chin and wavy black hair that slightly shined with red highlights. Of course, it was soon at the back of their minds now that they were sentenced to two weeks of cleaning up trash after school.

* * *

The upperclassmen, more commonly referred to as teenagers, were beginning to assemble in their respective classrooms. Angelica Pickles was attempting to apply some last minute makeup on at her desk while Susie Carmichael, who was sitting behind her, was catching up on the previous day's math review.

"Angelica, don't you care in the _least_ that you're dangerously close to failing math?" asked Susie, "And whining to the teacher doesn't work on Mr. Marsh."

"Well excuse me for having other things to worry about during the _second_ week of the semester," replied Angelica.

"Yeah," chuckled Susie, "Like getting manicures or trying to win Daryl's affection."

"Oh, please," said Angelica, brushing off Susie's reference to Daryl, "Daryl is _so_ last year! I've got my eyes on someone else."

"Someone you've known since preschool?" said an all too hopeful Harold, who was sitting next to Angelica, "Someone with red hair and freckles?"

"Dream on, Harold," replied Angelica.

When Mr. Marsh walked into the classroom, it meant the class was ready to begin.

"Good morning, class," said the feeble old man, placing his suitcase down, "I apologize for my absence last week. I was visiting my nephew Randy in Colorado. He's a geologist and invited the family to one of his presentations for their governor. But enough about me, let's do roll call."

Mr. Marsh began going down the names on his list. Since it was not done alphabetically or by seating chart, the names were called off at random. Angelica Pickles and Susie Carmichael were among the first. Mr. Marsh then called Daryl, Savannah, Brianna, Harold, Sean, and so forth until he was towards the bottom of his list.

"Errol Blunt," said Mr. Marsh.

"I think you already called on me," said Daryl, who was sitting towards the front.

"Not _Daryl_," said Mr. Marsh, "_Errol_."

"Right here."

The voice came from towards the back of the classroom. Those who turned around to see him saw the same person Tommy and Phil saw in Pangborn's office. However, since he was in closer range to this group, they were able to see that his left eye was simply a glass eye.

"Ah, you must be new," said Mr. Marsh, "Your name was written in pen as opposed to being typed onto the sheet."

"That's one way of putting it," replied Errol, resting his chin on his hand with a smirk.

Though he stood out amongst others, no one really said much. Then again, they were too bored with the math lesson to do so.

"Okay, now does anyone know the percentage of 7/8?"

Normally, the class would mumble amongst each other pretending like they were thinking, but in reality, none of them, except occasionally Susie, had any idea of the answer. However, this time, in less than a second, Errol responded from the back.

"87.5"

Everyone turned around and looked at him in shock.

"No way," said Savannah.

"That can't be right," said Brianna.

"Very good, Errol," said Mr. Marsh, writing the answer on the board, "The percentage of 7/8 is 87.5%"

Everyone turned around and looked at him in even more shock.

"No way," said Savannah.

"How did he get that?" asked Brianna.

The rest of the class continued as such. Mr. Marsh would present a seemingly impossible math equation and Errol would have the answer. The students were saved from their agony by the bell.

"Alright, class, you only have questions 1-60 due tomorrow," said Mr. Marsh.

"Yeah, _only_ one 1-60," Savannah muttered under her breath.

As the rest of the class proceeded out of the room, Errol briefly stopped by Mr. Marsh's desk to talk.

"Your nephew is Randy Marsh, right?" asked Errol.

"Yes, he's a geologist in Colorado," replied Mr. Marsh.

"Got kids, too?" asked Errol.

"Yes, my grandniece Shelly and grandnephew Stan," replied Mr. Marsh.

"I hear he narrowly averted a crisis in his hometown," said Errol, "Stopped a volcano from melting it."

"Yes...how did you know?" asked Mr. Marsh.

"When you're in our family's line of work, you hear about a lot of things," replied Errol with a smirk.

Mr. Marsh bent down to load up his briefcase, but then asked "What kind of work is that?"

He was answered with silence, as Errol had already taken his leave at that point.

* * *

"Come on, T, you can tell me!" exclaimed Dil.

"No I can't," replied his older brother Tommy, "You wouldn't get it."

The Pickles brothers were walking down the hallways towards their third period, which happened to be gym class, along with their friends Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, and Lil. He hadn't told any of them yet. There was definitely a special girl in his life, but the fearless Tommy Pickles was now hesitant to say who.

"Whatever happened to you not being afraid to talk about this kind of stuff?" asked Dil.

"It's just embarrassing," replied Tommy.

While they were talking, a young blonde girl by the name of Ashley walked by the two brothers. She wasn't a typical girly-girl, though. She usually came to school in a green hoody with pants that covered her pink sneakers, and usually also wore a beanie on her head. She was definitely one of those white girls that thought they were black. She turned towards Tommy and gave him a cheeky smile with a wave.

"Hi Tommy!" she exclaimed merrily.

Tommy did not say anything back, just blushed and waved back. It didn't take Dil long to figure things out.

"It's Ashley, isn't it? That's who you're crushing on!" exclaimed Dil.

"No it's not!" replied Tommy.

Still, Tommy couldn't help but smile and blush as Dil continued to pester him about Ashley. Both of them were too caught up in their conversation to notice Errol passing by them, eyeing the two brothers as if they were ghosts.

* * *

**So whatcha think? Worth continuing? Please review.**


	2. Curiosity Kills

**Not much to say this time, except I hope you enjoy this next chapter :)**

**Disclaimer: I only own Errol and Ashley (so far). All other Rugrats/AGU characters belong to KlaskyCsupo.**

* * *

4th period gym proved to be rather dull for Errol. It mostly consisted of the vice principal having them run laps around the gym for most of the time. Only when dodgeball became a factor in the class did Errol's interest go up a bit. For some reason, he could naturally avoid anything being thrown in his direction. Too bad he couldn't throw as well. It pretty much consisted of him throwing the ball to try and hit them, but they would catch it instead. Even after being warned by his teammates to stick with catching and dodging rather than throwing, he would keep trying. It cost them the game, which one particular team member felt like ragging on him for in the locker room.

"Way to go, butterfingers," said the scruffy guy, "Couldn't even win a dodgeball game?"

"Eh, gimme a break," replied Errol, "It's only a game."

"Only a game?" asked the scruffy guy, getting in Errol's face, "Out there, there are no games! You gotta be in it to win it."

"Get your damn face out of mine," replied Errol, "I don't like the sight of you."

"I'll put my face wherever I damn well please!" the scruffy guy replied.

"Back off," said Errol, getting angrier by the minute.

"See, I'll put it in your face as I please," said the scruffy guy, "And down here, too! I'll just put myself underneath you, or above you, or wherever I please."

"I said BACK OFF!"

When Errol snapped, something caused the scruffy guy to go flying backwards into the lockers. It was almost as if he had been hit by a car and abruptly stopped by the lockers. Others came to see what happened. The scruffy guy that had always been down everyone's necks about the game had just been thrown back by Errol.

"Damn," said Sean, "I don't think anyone's ever been able to do that, let alone had the balls to."

"You're something else, you know that?" said Daryl with a genuine grin.

"What can I say?" asked Errol, "He was way too near me."

As Errol walked off with everyone else to hit the showers, the scruffy guy stood back up and cracked his back, eyeing Errol and wondering how he had just done what he had just done. There was only one explanation in his mind.

"He's the one," he said to himself.

* * *

Errol moved over to a table by himself when it came time for lunch. For one thing, since it was his very first day, he had brought his own lunch in the typical brown bag school children use (meaning he got a good seat since most others were in line for cafeteria food). Secondly, his personality was that of a loner...even if people wanted to be his friend, he had a habit of shutting others out. He didn't know why he lived like that, it was just something he had lived with since…

_I want to say since I was a young boy_, Errol thought to himself, _but even if that wasn't too long ago…for some reason, those years are a blur for me…_

His personal reflections were interrupted when he heard laughter on the other half of the table. Two of them he recognized as the purple-haired boy and messy guy from the Vice Principal's office, but there were other faces…a girl who greatly resembled the messy guy, almost as if they were twins, as well as a Japanese girl with pigtails, a red-haired boy with glasses and braces, and another redhead wearing a Sherpa hat (and for the most unusual reason, staring at his mashed potatoes as if he were looking for something inside it).

"You have a big mouth, you know that, Phil?" Tommy asked.

"I knew you were dumb, but damn, that was dumb," said Lil, poking fun at her twin brother.

"Oh, like you wouldn't crack under pressure," said Phil.

"Coming from the guy who panicked about sneaking out of school to get a soccer player's autograph?" asked Kimi, "Yeah, sure."

"Quiet in the peanut gallery!" exclaimed Phil, throwing a tater tot at Kimi's head.

For some reason, Errol was disgusted by this sort of behavior; their happiness, their worry-free demeanors, their "hakuna matata", so to speak. He looked back down at his lunch when he noticed the Japanese girl was looking over at him.

"You know you don't have to sit by yourself," Kimi said to him.

"That's fine," Errol replied, turning in her direction but not looking her in the eye, "I'm rather busy."

"Chillax, dude," said Tommy, "Scoot over here!"

Errol felt complied to do so, which he did, but still did not make direct eye contact. He would really have preferred not to talk to them, but again, felt complied to do so when Tommy started asking him questions.

"So where are you from?" Tommy asked.

"I'm a native," Errol replied.

"Really?" asked Tommy, "We're natives too, but we've never seen you around even outside of school."

"Well how 'bout that," muttered Errol.

"You live in the woods or something?" asked Phil.

"Philip!" Lil exclaimed.

"What? I'm just curious why we've never seen him around, Lillian!" Phil retorted.

"In answer to your question," said Errol, this time looking towards the twins, "I actually live above the Biochemistry lab just outside of town."

"All the way out there?" asked Tommy, "I thought that was only for people who worked there."

"My old man worked there," replied Errol.

"What do they even do over there?" asked Lil.

"Duh," said Dil, "They try to contact our alien brethren!"

This time, Errol could not hold back a smirk, though was not even close to a chuckle.

"You're thinking of something else entirely, Mr. Sherpa-Hat," said Errol, "Biochemistry involves genetic engineering."

Before Errol could explain further, he felt a tap on his shoulder, and turned around to see the large, muscular vice principal who had told him how to get to his first class.

"This may be a bit inconvenient," said Mr. Pangborn, "but may I see you in my office for a moment?"

* * *

"Come on, girl, spill it," said Susie, "Who's the guy?"

Susie, Savannah, and Brianna had been walking down the halls trying to pry out as much information about Angelica's new guy crush as possible. Now that Brianna was officially dating Daryl, it seemed Angelica learned to leave him alone. Now they were curious about the poor soul that captured Angelica's affection this time.

"It has to be someone rich," said Savannah, "Angelica only goes for guys for their money."

"That's so not true," Angelica retorted, "And it's not like you girls don't do that either."

"Hey, don't look at me when you say that," said Susie, "I'm not even looking at the moment!"

"And Daryl isn't rich," said Brianna, "Well-off, yes, but not rich."

Errol and Mr. Pangborn passed by the four girls, both of whom were ignoring their presence with stern expressions on their faces.

"It's Errol, isn't it?" asked Savannah, "You're crushing on the new guy!"

"Puh-leeze," said Brianna, "Angelica was crushing _before_ Errol turned up."

"Trust me," said Angelica, "You'd all just _die_ of shock if I told you."

"Chuckie?" Susie asked again.

"I said die of _shock_, not of _disgust_," replied Angelica.

* * *

Following Mr. Pangborn to his office, Errol sat down in the chair in front of Mr. Pangborn's desk.

"Errol," said Pangborn, "Your math teacher, Mr. Marsh, informed me of your unusually brilliant work. Now, I have to ask…"

"Why someone as young as myself is far more advanced and, to put it frankly, more cultured than the average bear?" Errol finished the question for Mr. Pangborn.

"Well, yeah, in a nutshell," Mr. Pangborn said.

"I suppose that's just another benefit of living in a laboratory," said Errol.

"Yeah, that's something else I wanted to ask about," said Mr. Pangborn, pulling out a few papers with Errol's information on it, "Under your local residence, it says 'Gemini Biochemistry Laboratories'. Is that honestly where you live?"

"There are rooms above the main laboratory for comfort and relaxation," replied Errol, "There are a few others who live there as well."

"And under 'legal guardian(s)', it has 'Gemini Biochemistry Laboratories Staff and Personnel'," Mr. Pangborn continued to say, "Isn't there any one person in particular who has custody of you?"

"They all do," replied Errol, "Since they work with the U.S Government, they are all considered my legal guardians."

"But whatever happened to your parents? Or any family members nearby?" asked Pangborn.

"Hard to say," replied Errol, looking away from the vice principal, "I never knew my parents, and they had no living relatives."

The room was silent for a few brief seconds before Pangborn placed the papers down.

"Sorry," he said, "That was unprofessional of me. It's just those of us in the public education system have had some bad blood with the Biochemist types. Especially Gemini Labs. We've heard some…controversial news about them in the past."

"Such as?"

"Well, stem cell research, genetic cloning…a lot of things most families here can only imagine seeing on television," replied Mr. Pangborn.

"Seems like the press has been busy over the years," said Errol, "There's a lot they have yet to cover."

"Such as?"

"I'll let my 'legal guardians' decide how much the public is allowed to know," replied Errol, standing up, "Like I said, they occasionally work with the government, so they have certain limits on what they can release in public statements."

"I understand," said Pangborn, "I guess that's all I wanted to get off my chest for now."

* * *

For the oddest of reasons, Errol was nervous. He had never quite been used to going out in public. Being caved up in a lab had its benefits, but social interaction with other people his age was not one of them. And those questions Mr. Pangborn was asking him got him wondering…why is everyone so damn curious about me? Brushing it aside for now, he stepped on the bus to make his way home.


	3. What's in a Name?

**Disclaimer: I do not own any characters so far except Errol and Ashley.**

* * *

_The usual chatter_, Errol thought to himself, _others talk their lives away while I try to think_.

Once again, it was Kimi who noticed Errol keeping to himself. She would normally sit next to her brother in the row behind Tommy and Dil, and also the one next to Phil and Lil. Like she did during lunch break, she decided to try and include Errol by sitting next to him.

"You don't have to sit by yourself on the _bus_ either," she told him, assuming he remember who she was.

"It's more comforting, though," replied Errol.

"You're awfully quiet," Kimi said.

"You're awfully curious," Errol replied, "It's almost uncanny how many people have asked about my background."

"We're just interested is all," said Kimi, "You said you've lived here all your life yet we've never seen you around."

"I lived in a lab my whole life," Errol told her, "A lab on the outskirts of this town. I haven't exactly had time to worry myself over social interactions."

"Kimi, stop bugging people."

That came from Chuckie, who had noticed Errol getting slightly irritated by Kimi and felt he ought to split them up.

"I'm not bugging him!" exclaimed Kimi, sounding slightly offended, "I'm just trying to get to know him!"

"What would you gain from that?" Errol asked.

"What would I…?" Kimi asked in confusion, "I'm just asking for the sake of trying to make friends! There's no profit value in that!"

"Precisely why I asked," said Errol.

The bus had normally made one of its later stops at the Java Lava where people would usually hang out after school, but this time, it made its next stop by the woods just outside the suburbs. All that was there was a black van parked along the trail into the woods. It seemed to be waiting for someone.

"I suppose this is where we part ways," said Errol, getting up from his seat.

"Wait," said Kimi, "Just one more thing…what's your name?"

Errol told it to her without turning back.

"It's Errol," he said, "Errol Blunt."

As the bus drove off, Errol entered the black van which drove down the trail into the woods. Kimi watched briefly and sat next to her brother again.

"I wish there was at least time for me to tell him _my_ name," said a pouting Kimi.

"I don't think he would have cared," Chuckie told her, "He referred to Dil as 'Mr. Sherpa-Hat.' I don't think he'll bother learning our names."

"That's just because he doesn't know anybody yet," said Kimi, "He'll start learning our names and making friends soon."

Errol, on the other hand, was talking to two females, one of whom was the driver, both of whom were blonde with buns in their hair and full red lips. The only difference between the two was that one had green eyes, the other had blue. Other than that, they were identical.

"And how was your day, Mr. Errol?" asked the two women simultaneously.

"Decent enough, Miss Double," Errol said to the green-eyed one, "Miss Trouble," he added in regards to the blue-eyed one, "What's on today's agenda?"

"Most of this night will consist of cloning Boar #11," replied Miss Double, keeping her eyes on the road.

"The Mayor wants enough of them for his food drive a few days from now," added Miss Trouble.

"Let me guess," said Errol, "Our dear Chairman wants _me_ to make the calculations."

"More or less," the two twins replied.

"Finally," said Errol, resting his head on the headrest, "Some math that will actually _challenge_ me today."

* * *

"Finster!" shouted Angelica, "I need one of those banana smoothies to go, and quick! I'm so screwed if I'm not at the mall before their one-day-50%-off-every-other-item sale is over!"

Everyone was, of course, at the Java Lava, with relatively lenient homework given the fact it was only the second week of the semester. As per custom, today was Chuckie's shift.

"You could say please occasionally," said Chuckie, getting her smoothie ready.

"I _could_," said Angelica, "_Or _you could just do what you're paid to do."

Angelica grabbed the smoothie once it was done and left money on the counter, rushing out the door to get to the mall.

"Keep the change, Finster!" she shouted while running out.

While Chuckie sat back down on the stool behind the counter, Tommy was with Dil, Phil, Lil, and Kimi at one of the corner tables by the computers.

"She's more active than usual," said Dil.

"Probably because of that new guy she's crushing on," said Lil.

"Wait, what?" asked Tommy, "She's crushing on someone?"

"Yeah, that new guy we met today at lunch," said Phil, "We heard a bunch of Angelica's friends on the bus trying to get her to admit it."

"Wait," Kimi laughed, "Angelica Pickles, the queen of anything and everything superficial, is crushing on Errol?"

"Errol?" the others asked.

"Uh, the new guy we were just talking about, duh!" said Kimi.

"How'd you get him to cough up his name?" asked Tommy.

"I just asked him," replied Kimi, "I could have learned more about him if _someone _wouldn't have insisted I leave him alone!"

"You were making him uncomfortable," Chuckie said from behind the counter.

"You don't know that!" exclaimed Kimi.

"I know how it feels to be uncomfortable around someone, and that look on his face told me he was uncomfortable," said Chuckie.

"Anyway," said Tommy, "I seriously doubt Angelica is really crushing on him."

"That's not what her friends said," Phil pointed out.

"She's my cousin, Phil," said Tommy, "I know her better than that. Errol doesn't seem to come off as her type."

As this conversation continued, Ashley walked into the Java Lava and approached the bar. Their group lowered their voices and turned in her direction, then at Tommy's to see if he was blushing.

"Can I get one of those key-lime shakes?" she asked.

Chuckie nodded and began to prepare it. She turned to see Tommy and his friends looking in her direction, but appeared unfazed by it.

"Hey, Tommy!" she cheerfully exclaimed.

"Hey Ashley," said Tommy.

"Hey, did you know?" she asked, "I finally got that tattoo I've always wanted!"

"I didn't know you always wanted a tattoo," said Tommy, "And aren't you, like, 11?"

"It's not permanent," replied Ashley, "And I have lots more of the same design so I can totally keep the same neck tattoo until I'm old enough to get a real one!"

Ashley pulled up her hair and turned around to show Tommy the tattoo she was talking about. It was a design of one head with two faces on each side, one black and one white, with several small rings around it.

"That's a pretty neat design," said Phil.

"Thanks!" exclaimed Ashley, "I just can't wait until I can get a _real_ tattoo of it! So what's new with you, Tommy?"

"We were just trying to figure out whether or not my cousin actually has a crush on the new guy," said Tommy, "I say she doesn't, but these guys disagree."

"New guy?" asked Ashley.

"His _name_ is Errol," said Kimi, giving a glare in Tommy's direction.

"We get it!" exclaimed Phil, "You don't have to get so touchy about the subject!"

Ashley slammed her hand down on the table and looked directly into Kimi's eyes.

"Did you say his name was Errol?" she asked Kimi, "As in Errol Blunt?"

"You know him?" asked Kimi.

"Your key-lime shake is ready," said Chuckie, putting a lid on the cup.

Ashley, who ignored Kimi's previous inquiry, grabbed the cup and left the exact amount of change before winking at Tommy and exiting the Java Lava.

"Well that was odd," said Kimi, "She seemed…angry when we brought him up."

"Maybe he's not as reserved as we thought he was?" wondered Lil.

* * *

**A few days later…**

_Again, I find myself being surrounded by darkness. All the voices around me echo, and the same two guys, the bearded one and the red haired one, are in the background looking towards me. But this time, instead of the bandaged man on the tray I always see, I'm looking at myself, except I had both of my normal eyes instead of a glass one. I looked at myself, and my other self appeared to be smiling back at me. Before long, that smile turned into a grin, accompanied by a devious glare in his eyes. I got that feeling in the stomach that people usually feel in dreams whenever they're falling. We were both falling deeper and deeper into darkness. I tried to reach out to him, but then he began to ooze green slime. His exterior that was identical to my own began to melt away, revealing nothing more than a feeble skeleton, still smiling at me._

"Come on, wake up!"

Errol awoke to Miss Double shaking him awake. He looked at his surroundings and found himself sitting at the glass table in one of the offices, many of which only consisted of tables and white tile floors with tan colored painted walls. Miss Trouble was sitting on the other side, stapling papers that were lying around.

"Honestly, Mr. Errol," said Miss Double, "Sometimes you work too hard for your own good."

"What does that mean?" he asked.

"You dozed off after working nonstop the past two nights," replied Miss Trouble, "Don't worry. We took care of everything else when you finally gave in."

"What time is it?" Errol asked.

"7:11," replied Miss Double.

"I don't suppose I missed the bus?" Errol asked.

"It will arrive in a few minutes," replied Miss Double, "But given your daily morning rituals, there will be no time for you to make it on. Miss Trouble and I will escort you to school today."

"That would be wonderful," said Errol, getting up and yawning, "I guess I'll see you two once I get back from my morning shower."

Errol left the office to head upstairs to his quarters leaving Miss Double and Miss Trouble alone in the office.

"You gave him the wrong time on purpose, didn't you?" Miss Trouble asked.

"Of course," replied Miss Double, "I think today we ought to escort him personally. If what young Ashley said is true, a few people are trying to socialize with him."

"Can we trust what that girl says?" asked Miss Trouble.

"We'll have to," replied Miss Double, "She's one of us now."

* * *

**To be continued...**


	4. It's Errol, Isn't It?

**Disclaimer: I do not own Rugrats/AGU (or any other titles by Nickelodeon that I may have mentioned in this chapter).**

* * *

The beginning of the day was rough for Errol. Not because he had been overworked. Not because he had difficulty following along Mr. Marsh's lesson. Like many students on an early morning, he was fighting sleep. Working two nights in a row can take its toll on anyone. And like many of the other students, Errol felt his liberation arrive when the bell rang for the next class.

"Quiz tomorrow, don't forget," said Mr. Marsh, erasing the board.

Errol had a solution in the back pocket of the brown shorts he wore that day, and was ready to use it in the boys room until, once in the halls, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw two girls; one pale with black hair and a tomboyish appearance, the other had a ponytail with blonde highlights.

"So, Errol," asked Brianna, "How do you feel about Angelica?"

"I don't know who that is," he replied.

"Well I guess that answers _that_ question," said Savannah, "Someone's going to be heartbroken."

"She wasn't even crushing on him," said Brianna, "She won't cough it up."

_Alright, now they're just babbling about girl stuff_, Errol thought to himself, slipping away as Brianna and Savannah continued to talk. He continued to head towards the bathroom for his solution when he felt someone bump into his legs. Looking down, he saw Dil Pickles using his hands to walk backwards.

"Um, Mr. Sherpa-Hat?" Errol asked, "What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm walking to class," replied Dil with the utmost sincerity.

"And you're not at all concerned of how unusual it appears and how much it makes you stand out?" asked Errol.

"That's the idea," said Dil, "Being original means standing out!"

"I suppose you could put it like that," said Errol.

After a brief moment of awkward silence, Errol and Dil continued their separate treks. Just as he finally arrived in front of the door for the boys' room, one more person, as fate would have it, bumped into him. However, this person was not so pleased to see him.

"Errol Blunt?" asked Ashley.

"Do I know you?" asked a confused Errol in return.

"I know of you," Ashley coldly replied, "You work for Gemini Biochemists, right?"

"Gee, it seems like everybody is so damn inquisitive about my life," said Errol, "So what if I am?"

"People like you make me sick," Ashley replied, "You and your lack of regard for humanity for the sake of science…"

Ashley's demeanor instantly changed once Tommy walked by and had just noticed the two of them talking.

"Hi, Tommy!" she said gleefully.

"Uh, hey Ashley," said Tommy, "You finally met Errol?"

"You know my name?" asked Errol, "I don't think I told it to you."

"Kimi did," said Tommy.

"I don't know who that is," said Errol.

"Just like you," said Ashley, once again returning to her cold personality, "If it doesn't revolve around you, it's a waste of time for you, right?"

"Get off my back," said Errol, "You don't even know me."

"I know you better than you know yourself," said Ashley.

"What does that even mean?" asked Errol.

"Uh, is something wrong?" asked Tommy.

"It's fine, Tommy," said Ashley, who excused herself, "Nice to see you again."

_Has he no idea what he's done?_ Ashley asked herself while walking away.

"I don't get it," said Tommy, "She's usually really nice and pretty perky. Why does she have a nut against you?"

"I wish I could answer that," replied Errol, "but that would imply I myself know the answer."

Excusing himself as well, Errol stepped into the bathroom as Tommy left to head for his next class. Errol knocked on all of the stall doors to make absolutely sure he was alone. He poured water from the sink into a small cup he had kept in his backpack, and then slipped something out of his pocket…a medication bottle. He opened it and placed a few pills in the palm of his hand. Throwing them into his mouth, he drank the water.

"Much better," said Errol, "Maybe now I can make more progress in the day."

* * *

On the bus route, Errol's stop had been postponed until last due to an "unforeseen" accident. The Java Lava stop was first, where most of the kids got off for the day.

"Whatever happened to your stop?" asked Kimi.

"Short delay," said Errol, "Not to worry, though. I don't have much planned anyway."

Of course, that was a lie. Errol wanted to catch up further on his research. But he wasn't about to tell others that much when they're already nosy enough.

"Oh, so you have time today?" asked Kimi, grabbing his wrist, "Take a break, then."

"What are you doing?" asked Errol.

"I figured since you finally have a day off from whatever it is you do all the time, you ought to see the town a bit more," replied Kimi, "You were saying you rarely left the labs, right?"

"True enough," said Errol, "But I'm not asking for a grand tour or anything."

"It doesn't have to be," said Kimi, "We can just show you the Java Lava."

"That coffee shop I've heard people rave about?" asked Errol, following Kimi off the bus, "This place right here?"

"It's kind of a usual hangout for people here," replied Kimi.

Kimi dragged Errol into the Java Lava (though Errol seemed to enter willingly) and she looked towards her brother who had already started his shift.

"Get Errol one of those kiwi smoothies!" she told him.

Chuckie began preparing a kiwi smoothie as Kimi sat Errol down with Tommy and Dil. Phil and Lil were competing with each other at a computer game nearby.

"Are those two always screwing around like that?" asked Errol.

"Pretty much," replied Kimi, elbowing Phil in the back.

"The story of our life," said Lil, not looking away from the computer screen.

Chuckie eventually finished the kiwi smoothie, and brought it out for Errol, who immediately indulged himself in it.

"You know…that's not bad at all," Errol commented.

"Jeez Louise, not another one!"

The gang turned around to see Betty DeVille watching the news. Chaz Finster was next to her watching the same news story. Errol could instantly tell Chaz was Chuckie's father, but did not yet realize Betty was Phil and Lil's mother.

"This is terrible!" exclaimed Chaz.

"What is it, Dad?" asked Kimi.

"Another city is filing for a government bailout," said Chaz, "They went broke."

"First Retroville, then Tremorton, and now Dimmsdale!" exclaimed Betty.

"How'd they go broke?" asked Chuckie.

"Their mayors put too much trust in a research team and now they've used up all their funds," replied Chaz.

"Now they've got three cities wrapped entirely around their fingers," said Betty.

"What kind of research team does that?" asked Lil.

"Apparently Gemini Biochemistry Laboratories," replied Betty.

"Wait," said Kimi, "Errol, isn't that where…"

"Yeah," he replied, "I live in one."

Betty and Chaz suddenly became uneasy around Errol, and even more uneasy about having their children around him. They didn't have enough time to question him, though, because someone else came into the Java Lava looking for Errol.

"Where is Errol Blunt?" asked Angelica.

"Gee, who isn't curious about me today?" replied Errol with a tone of annoyance.

"I need a favor from you right now," she said, grabbing him by the arm and dragging him towards the back, "It's important."

Errol didn't have time to object before Angelica brought him into the storage room out back.

"That's odd," said Tommy, "She usually bosses us around, not Errol."

"What kind of favor could she want from Errol?" asked Kimi.

"Who knows?" asked Phil, "She probably wants him to do her homework, or lend her money, or…"

* * *

"Pretend to be your boyfriend?" asked Errol, "What kind of request is that?"

"Look, I know it's an odd request and we hardly know each other," Angelica explained, "But I'm sick of people asking me who it is I really like. If they think it's you and they think we're dating, people might get off my case."

"I suppose that would be a reasonable outcome," said Errol, "But what's in it for me? Why should I comply with this plan of yours? In case you haven't noticed, I'm a busy person."

"Not too busy that you can't suck down smoothies with Finster!" exclaimed Angelica.

"That was a slight change of plans, I'll admit," Errol pondered, tapping his chin, "But that doesn't mean I have all the time in the world for something so trivial."

"Okay, what do I have to give you in order to get your help?" asked a desperate Angelica.

"A cash settlement," replied Errol, "That's about all I can think of that would make it worthwhile."

"Fine," said Angelica, "I'll find my mom's credit card and get you something."

"Deal," said Errol.

After the two shook hands on it, they both emerged from the storage room. The rest of that day remained somewhat uneventful. Kimi continued to tell Errol about the town, others became generally uneasy around him, and Angelica was almost caught using her mom's credit card without permission. On the other side of town, however, Ashley had walked into her home, which was not far from where Tommy and Dil lived. She knew, however, someone else was inside. If it were her mom, she'd have locked the door. Or even if she didn't, the burglar alarm would go off once she walked in. It didn't. She knew someone was waiting for her inside. Fortunately, when she walked into the living room, her defensive instincts were put to rest as it was someone she would have expected to turn up, sooner or later.

The scruffy guy from Errol's gym class, the one who felt a power emit from Errol that others could not, was sitting on the loveseat next to the fireplace, chewing on a cracker.

"It's Errol, isn't it?" he asked her.

"In some variation, yes," replied Ashley, sitting next to him.

"Meaning?"

"He doesn't seem to remember anything. I confronted him at school and he knew nothing."

"He may just be _acting_ clueless. Or even if he doesn't remember, that still doesn't excuse his crimes."

"So what do we do?"

"What else is there to do? We can't act right away, but it will have to be done eventually…for the greater good, to protect humanity, it has to be done."

The scruffy guy swallowed his last cracker before continuing forth.

"We have to kill him."


	5. Science Pair

**Disclaimer: All Rugrats characters belong to their respective copyright owners. You probably know which ones are OCs.**

* * *

Errol had been sitting towards the back of the Chemistry classroom, whereas Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Kimi were all towards the front. Today was the day partners were assigned for the class projects.

"You've all got two weeks to present your projects," said Mr. Beaker, the science teacher.

No, he wasn't named that after his chosen profession. He had a beak-shaped nose to add insult to injury. It sort of added to that "lame science teacher" persona.

"Now we'll determine your partners by lottery," said Mr. Beaker, "Write down your names on a piece of paper, and we'll assign partners randomly."

After writing their names down, the process of selecting lab partners had begun. Tommy and Lil had ended up partners, as well as Phil and Wally, one of the school's lead soccer players and Lil's friend (how's that for chemistry?). Chuckie ended up with a shy, quiet girl he was not familiar with.

Kimi was partnered with Errol.

_Great_, he thought, _As if she wasn't already getting too curious about my personal life. I'm willing to bet she'll ask to do the project at my place since it's a laboratory._

When the class began to rearrange the seating so that everyone was sitting next to their respective partners, Kimi moved herself next to Errol, and sure enough, she asked exactly why Errol thought she would.

"So, I guess since we're lab partners," said Kimi, "We could work on the project over at your place?"

"What's wrong with your house?" asked Errol.

"Nothing, really," replied Kimi, "But you live in a laboratory, and you're pretty smart. That just seems like a good place to come up with ideas for a project."

Errol couldn't exactly argue with that logic, but was still initially against bringing her to the lab. Then again, she didn't seem like she would be talked out of it.

"All right, then," said Errol, "If that's what you think will get us a better grade, we'll work on the project on my place."

Sure enough, Errol kept his word. When the bus arrived at his stop at the end of the school day, Kimi got off with him.

"Where are you going, Kimi?" asked Chuckie, "I thought you were working a shift at the Java Lava?"

"I'm working with Errol on our science project," replied Kimi, "You probably should, too."

As Errol led Kimi into the black limo that took him deeper into seclusion, the other bus passengers became talkative.

"Wasn't that Errol Blunt with Kimi Finster?"

"I thought he was dating Angelica Pickles."

"Yeah, me too."

"So why's he getting off the bus with Kimi?"

"Wait," said Chuckie, overhearing the conversations, "Errol is…dating…Angelica?"

"You okay, Chuckie?" asked Tommy.

"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Chuckie, "I'm just…surprised is all."

"You and me both," Tommy said in response.

Both boys looked out the window for the remainder of the trip. Neither one could help but wonder just why out of the blue, Angelica would go and start dating someone who, until yesterday, didn't even know her name.

"I had no idea you took a limo to the bus stop," said Kimi, "How come you don't just take it to school?"

"Less conspicuous," replied Errol, "Driving to school in a limo would give off the impression that I'm a rich kid."

"Well you must have _some_ money to afford a limo," said Kimi, taking advantage of the leather seating and inviting headrest.

"Correction," said Errol, "The _lab_ can afford a limo."

Kimi took great enjoyment out of the luxurious ride before arriving at the lab, where Miss Double and Miss Trouble opened the door for the two.

"You have maids, too?" asked Kimi in astonishment.

"They work at the lab," replied Errol, "And despite being blonde, they wield a great deal of intelligence."

Kimi chuckled, asking, "Did you just make a blonde joke?"

"Surprised by my attempt at humor?" asked Errol.

"Frankly, yes," replied Kimi, "I've never seen you make a joke, let alone smile."

"There's a first for everything," said Errol.

As Errol opened the doors to the laboratories, Kimi absorbed the wonder and amazement of what she saw. Workers and scientists everywhere, delivering papers, studying specimens, reviewing lab reports, all within the large steel dome that was the first room, or for some of the higher-ups, an office with bullet-proof glass. Some of them expressed surprise at seeing someone other than Errol return to the laboratories, even more so that it was someone that looked much younger than him.

"All these people work here?" asked Kimi, "I don't even recognize any of them!"

"They rarely leave the labs," said Errol, pressing a button for the elevator doors to open.

"What about their home lives?" asked Kimi, stepping inside the small but breezy elevator with Errol, "Don't they have families or anything?"

"These people?" asked Errol, pressing a button for one of the top floors, "I'd be surprised if they have any loved ones. They never talk about their personal or past lives."

Though the lights of the elevator did not go out, it still seemed to get darker, something Kimi found odd.

"Did it just get darker in here?" she asked.

"We're inside the mountain now," replied Errol.

"The mountain?"

"You saw how tall it was and how the building seemed to go inside it?" asked Errol, "More than half of it is inside, some of it below the ground as well. This elevator doesn't just go up and down. It goes sideways too."

"All this time I never knew a place like this was in our own town!" exclaimed Kimi, "And you've lived here your whole life?"

"All I remember of it, anyway," said Errol, stepping out of the elevator when it stopped.

This room was much smaller than the front room, but more relaxing. On one half of the room there were desks full of studies and lab specimens with a tile floor that could easily clean up a mess. On the other half was a fireplace with a coffee table in the middle of two sofas, mostly meant to entertain the rare guest that comes along. If Kimi were to enter the steel door nearby, she would see a relatively smaller room with a double bed that, like the glass, was completely bullet-proof.

"So, um," said Kimi, "What exactly _is_ our project going to be?"

"Well, if you want any of _my_ ideas…"

Errol opened one of the translucent containers on the shelf next to him, pulling out a gooey substance that he placed on one of the desks that doubled as his experiment table. Upon closer inspection, Kimi saw that inside the blue goo, there was a living creature swimming around…a grouper fish, to be exact.

"We're going to clone this grouper," said Errol.

"What is this stuff?" asked Kimi, poking whatever it was the grouper was swimming inside of.

"A special gel the laboratory designed," replied Errol, "It allows any and all creatures inside any given mass of the gel to be able to breathe oxygen as though they were in their own natural habitat. Sadly though, in the case of humans, they still can't speak."

There was a pause in their dialogue, so quiet that they could hear the gel jiggle as the grouper fish swam around inside, until Kimi broke the silence.

"So it's all true, then?" she asked.

"What's all true?" asked Errol.

"All that stuff about Gemini Labs, the things they do…" her voice trailed off before adding, "Genetic cloning?"

"That's typically what is meant by _biochemistry_, hence our institution's name," replied Errol, "Yes, we do clone different living creatures. But we're not some big evil corporation."

"Some people seem to think so," replied Kimi, "They were on the news the other day."

"I was there, remember?" There was yet another awkward silence before Errol continued, "I, uh…will admit the higher-ups haven't made the best moral decisions in regards to how and for whom they conduct business. But all I'm asked to do is fill out lab reports and conduct experiments. I don't get into the politics of what they do."

"I guess that makes you okay," said Kimi, "It might put people at ease to hear that from you. Can I just ask one thing before we start with this?"

"And that is?"

"Of all the things you clone…are humans on that list?"

Errol paused briefly before looking straight into her eyes and answering her.

"We have yet to successfully do so."

* * *

Outside the Java Lava, most people were ready to leave. It was near closing time and it had been a long day for everyone (each for various reasons). However, Chuckie, Tommy, and Angelica were really the only ones that actually left to go home for the time being. It was rather silent with Angelica a few feet in front of the two boys until she stopped, turned around, and as usual, broke the silence.

"Spit it out, you two!" she shouted to them, "I can almost _feel_ you trying to say something!"

"Oh, uh, w-why would we?" asked Chuckie, breaking into a nervous sweat, "It's not like anything's wrong or something's out of place!"

"Finster…"

"Well, Angelica," said Tommy, "It's just…you barely know Errol, and well…we heard something crazy about you _dating_ him?"

"Oh, that's just a cover story," said Angelica, "It's so people won't keep asking me who I really like. But you _better_ not tell _anyone_ that or else I'll be doing this for nothing!"

"But…why would you need to go to that extreme?" asked Chuckie, "What's the big deal about admitting who you like? You know, if anyone at all."

Angelica didn't respond. In fact, she didn't even yell and scream at them for their inquiries. She just looked away, not wanting to look at Chuckie or Tommy in the eyes when answering.

"_You _should know why."

She walked off, leaving the two boys confused, looking at each other and asking simultaneously, "_Do_ we?"


	6. Change of Plans

**All characters in this story that do not belong to me (you probably can tell which ones they are) belong to their respective copyright owners.**

**Oh, and the scruffy guy finally gets a name in this chapter.**

* * *

Errol had written down the last of the notes, but the project itself would take time. Earlier, he and Kimi had extracted a sample of the grouper fish's DNA and placed it in cold storage. Now for a while, they had been working on the paperwork for the whole thing. During the last half hour, though, he allowed Kimi to take a break, and she went over towards the other half of the room where the fireplace was.

Miss Double knocked on the door, and when she walked in, she said, "You have new mail waiting for you."

"I'll check up on it in a few, Miss Trouble," said Errol, not looking up from his paperwork.

"Actually, I'm Miss Double," she said.

"Right, of course," said Errol, "I wasn't actually looking."

"Do you want me to escort the girl home?"

"The girl?"

For the last half hour the room had been silent as Errol wrote down notes. He had almost forgotten Kimi was there and that she was his lab partner. He had not even noticed she had fallen asleep while Errol continued to work.

"Never thought lab work would be _that_ exhausting," said Errol.

"Well not everyone is at your…superior intellect, sir," said Miss Double.

"I suppose you ought to escort her home," said Errol, "But I still need to work on a few other things that do not involve this science project."

"I understand," said Miss Double.

Miss Double picked Kimi off of the couch and carried her out the door. Errol, on the other hand, had set aside the notes for school and took out the other ones he had been concealing in the table drawer.

"One would think a file labeled 'Confidential' would be placed somewhere safer than a simple drawer," remarked Errol.

The file marked _"Confidential"_ contained photographs of three men sitting together at a conference table. One of them was a dark bearded man with thick-rimmed glasses. He gave off a very stern demeanor in the way his eyebrows were narrowed. Another of them had red hair, looked more pleasant than the other, but still had a hint of seriousness to his face. The third figure was Errol himself, minus the glass eye. He could tell because the glass eye did not reflect the same way the other normal human eyes did. He was not wearing the same casual clothes he wore to school. Instead, he wore a very formal tuxedo, and his hair had much more gel in it. There had to have been a special occasion when the photo was taken.

_But for the life of me,_ Errol thought, _I can't even remember what I was doing there…or how I lost that eye._

* * *

Kimi consistently jumped between sleep and drowsiness while being driven home. She was not awake enough to grasp that she was being taken home, or that she had been working on a science project with Errol. She did, however, pick up bits and pieces of a conversation between the twin blondes escorting her home.

"Errol…are you sure about…"

"Why wouldn't it be him?"

"The boss…he won't…"

"Dangerous…he's too dangerous to be kept alive…"

"The chairman…he'll know…"

"Does Errol…"

"Either he doesn't remember, or he's…"

"Rendezvous…Splash Mountain…the day of…"

Kimi could only pick up that much without understanding the context. The next time she awoke, however, the car engine had been turned off, and her shoulders were being tapped by Miss Trouble.

"Are you awake, miss?" asked Miss Trouble.

Kimi sat up and yawned, getting a grip on her surroundings. She now realized she was in front of her own house. Errol must have had these two women drive her there.

"Errol is…?" asked Kimi.

"Back at the labs," replied Miss Trouble, "Everything he needed from you he already got."

"Oh," said Kimi, sounding slightly disappointed, "Well, tell him I said thanks. I guess…I'll see him around."

Kimi watched the flashy limo drive away before entering her front door. Her parents had already been asleep, but Chuckie and Tommy were sitting on the living room floor. It looked as though they were doing homework, but the things they were talking about suggested otherwise.

"What about Daryl?" asked Tommy.

"Nah, she already got over him," replied Chuckie, "How about Sean or Craig?"

"Sean's seeing Breann, and Craig…doesn't exactly play for the home team," added Tommy.

"So I guess they're out," said Chuckie, crossing their names off a list.

"What are you two doing?" asked Kimi.

"Trying to figure out who Angelica's crushing on," said Chuckie.

"And also why she has to act like she's dating Errol to keep it a secret," added Tommy.

"So he's not actually dating Angelica?" asked Kimi, "I figured he wasn't the dating type."

Kimi yawned again and decided to head up to her room, "I'm gonna call it a night. Don't burn down the house while everyone else sleeps."

Tommy and Chuckie most likely had a snarky retort in response, but Kimi was already upstairs and could not hear it. When she entered her room, she didn't even change out of her pedestrian clothes. She drifted off to sleep as soon as she hit the bed.

Again, however, she woke up at the most convenient of times. When she heard one of the doors open from across the hall, she felt it to be a soothing noise that could help her just relax and go back to sleep. However, it was when the sound of glass breaking was made that she was wide awake. Then the grunt that came next. It was in no way nasally or feminine, which ruled out anyone else in her family. Did someone break in the house?

The intruder, dressed completely in black with a dark mask on his face, opened the door to Kimi's room and approached her bed. The figure in it was not moving, so he assumed the girl was asleep. He thought wrong. The girl in the bed let out a loud, ear-breaking scream. Immediately, the lights outside her room went on, and everyone else in the house came running in.

"Dammit!" cursed the intruder.

It wasn't difficult for him to brush his way past the others. He was much taller and more muscular than anyone else in the household. Though he appeared to be stumbling a little, he easily ran down the stairs and out the front door. Chaz ran after him, but not only did the intruder get away and out of sight at this point, but also, Chaz was short of breath from the chase.

"Maybe…someone should call the police?" pondered Kira.

* * *

From nearby, the very same intruder watched from afar as the house he had just broken into became surrounded by police cars. The sound of sirens echoed throughout the neighborhood as other families got out of their homes to see what was happening. And during this commotion, the intruder escaped into the woods behind the suburban neighborhood. Trekking across the river and a series of fallen trees, the intruder stopped at the small, brick well that was located in the center of the woods, where two people were standing there waiting for him.

"You failed, didn't you?" asked Ashley, leaning against the well.

The intruder pulled off his mask, revealing a head full of long dark hair that touched his shoulders with heavy stubble and bloodshot eyes.

"Yeah," replied the intruder, "What was your first clue?"

"This is a serious matter, Roarke," said the scruffy guy, who was sitting on top of the well next to Ashley, "You were supposed to get in there to get a sample of DNA from Kimi Finster. If she's going into Gemini Labs with Errol, there's a good chance she's in on whatever he may be plotting."

"Alright then, you little wench, let's see _you_ do better," growled Roarke, getting himself ready to hit the scruffy guy.

"Calm down, you two!" shouted Ashley, stepping in between them before a brawl could erupt, "So Roarke failed. We're all gonna make some mistakes."

"But this is a mission we can't afford to blow," added the scruffy guy.

Part of it was his dedication to the mission, but as he tended to display, it was also his typical streak of needing to win.

"Well, Devin, here's a thought," said Ashley, "You and I are at the same school as Kimi and Errol. We have a much better chance of learning her connection to Errol and Gemini Labs simply by being her school peers."

"So you just had me break the law by busting into a house for nothing?" asked Roarke.

"Getting a DNA sample from Kimi in her sleep was a long shot to begin with," replied Ashley, "but it still had to be considered an option. Now that we know it didn't work, we have a better idea of what to do. Devin and I will handle Kimi. You go back to Miss Double and Trouble; update them on the change in plans."

* * *

Stu and Didi Pickles were among the many people who went over to the Finsters house to inquire why there were police outside. Grandpa Lou, however, decided to stay in the living room and read that morning's newspaper, as he didn't get a chance to then and he sure wasn't going to get much sleep now. He managed to learn the winning lotto numbers (none of which were his) and some recent sports victories, but what really peaked his curiosity was the article written first in the political section.

"_In the wake of yet another bold power grab, the city of Dimmsdale files for a government bailout. The Mayor of Dimmsdale had requested it after the failed negotiations between Dimmsdale and Gemini Biochemistry Laboratories. Years ago, the Mayor had permitted Gemini Labs to do samples and studies on the citizens of Dimmsdale. What the Mayor did not realize, however, was that as the economy tanked, Gemini Labs milked more and more money from the town due to the increasing demand for services in biochemistry from the federal government; the very same Dimmsdale is turning to for help in their hour of bankruptcy._

_On a personal note, I am quite amazed people have not learned their lesson about dealing with Gemini Labs; the towns of Retroville and Tremorton (in this year alone) are suffering similar fates and are quickly losing control of their properties to Gemini Labs. What surprises me even more is that despite the definitive signs of foul play, Gemini Labs still continues to get a free pass for their actions."_

As Grandpa Lou finished the last sentence in the article, Stu and Didi entered the house.

"So what's all the hub-bub about?" asked Lou.

"Well, the Finsters house was broken into, though thankfully no one was hurt," replied Didi.

"And apparently nothing was stolen, either," added Stu, "Guess I'll be going back to building those cameras for our house after all."

"There's also the fact that they just aren't safe in their own home so long as this crook knows how to get in," said Didi, "So we…sorta told the Finsters they could stay with us for the time being."


	7. There's Something About Kaspar

**This chapter won't focus as much on the Rugrats/AGU gang, but it will cover most of Errol's backstory.**

**Disclaimer: All non-OCs belong to their respective copyright owners.**

* * *

"You know you don't have to give up your own bed on our account," said Chuckie, "We're fine with the couch."

"We know, but you guys have just had a rough night," said Tommy.

"But we'll gladly trade!" exclaimed Dil, eager to get back into his own room.

Tommy grabbed Dil's ear and started to drag him out, saying "By which he means you all have a good night's sleep and we'll be on our way!"

Dil's moans of pain were still heard even as the door was shut, and even when Tommy dragged him down the stairs. Chuckie and Kimi were left alone.

"It still might be awkward though, sleeping in Tommy's bed," said Kimi.

"At least you get Tommy's room," said Chuckie, "Do you know how many empty pizza boxes are lying around in Dil's room? It's a mess!"

"Just take what you can get," said Kimi, getting under the covers of Tommy's bed, "It's better than being unsafe in our own house."

"Well, I guess I'll do Dil a favor and clean it up a little before I turn in for the night," said Chuckie, "Good night."

"Sleep tight," replied Kimi as Chuckie turned off the lights and shut the door behind him.

It was very quiet, not to mention safer than their own house, but still, Kimi's thoughts of Errol were still making her unable to sleep. He was, without a doubt, the most interesting person she had ever met. No one could possibly have a life story that compares to his…at least, as much as she knows about Errol's life. _"Rendezvous…Splash Mountain…the day of…"_ those words still rung in Kimi's ears.

_I wonder how soon we could all hitch a ride there again,_ she thought.

* * *

Dil had been sitting on the shorter couch in the living room, the longer one being occupied by Tommy, both still trying to be quiet due to Mr. and Mrs. Finster sleeping in the guest room across the hall. He was still rubbing his ear over the red spots Tommy left behind.

"Quit whining about it, it's not gonna kill you," said Tommy, texting on his phone.

"You don't know that," said Dil, "I could be the only person with an ear this red, and if a hostile alien species comes to take over our planet, I'll be the first one they see, and 'POW!' I'm a goner!"

"You have _quite_ an imagination, Dil," said Tommy.

"Seriously, who do you text that much this time of night?" asked Dil.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" asked Tommy with a smug smile.

"Actually, I do," replied Dil, getting up quickly off the couch grabbing his phone.

"Hey!" shouted Tommy, reaching for his phone.

Dil managed to get a quick peek at the message before Tommy grabbed it back, pushing Dil back onto his couch.

"So," said Dil, "Tommy, the '_naughty hunk of man_'…"

"Tell _no one_," warned Tommy.

"Relax, I wouldn't," replied Dil, "but seriously, who's the girl? Is it Ashley?"

"Just shut up and get some sleep, we have school tomorrow," said Tommy, turning over on his side.

* * *

Kimi and Tommy were not the only ones having trouble sleeping. Errol also had a hard time getting to sleep back at the labs, and as such, left his private chambers to walk around the halls a bit. A few people were still at work that night, though technically the higher-ups were the only ones who stayed during the night. Those who he passed by greeted him with a friendly smile, to which he nodded back, but still kept his focus on what was in front of him.

That is, until he saw a door labeled, "Employees Only. No Admittance." Having never seen that door before, he pondered to himself, "Surely I count as one since I do more than enough work around here?" With that mindset, Errol opened the steel door and closed it quietly behind him (in case someone was to tell him otherwise). The only signs of light were red wall lights that seemed to be following Errol's every step as he walked down the hall. Eventually, there were diagrams hanging on the walls, mostly of the human body and the anatomy of other living creatures.

And that's when he heard voices. No, they weren't coming from this head. They were coming from whatever room was behind the dark red curtain by his side (it could easily have been any other color, but since all the lights were red, there wasn't really a way to know for sure). Judging by this, Errol presumed that the room he was about to enter was a dark room. He presumed wrong. It was, in fact, a surgery room, though there was no actual surgery being performed. But there _was_ a body on an operating table, a familiar body, as well as people surrounding it. The two men he recognized from the photo in this room, the dark bearded one and the red haired one, were standing on one end, with Miss Double and Miss Trouble on the other side. At the foot of the operating table was a small African-American man wearing a blue lab coat. He had a shaved head as well as large, circular glasses, and he was holding a clipboard. Judging by the slight stubble on him and the lack of wrinkles and sags, he was a little older than Miss Trouble and Miss Double, but much younger than the other two men in the room.

And that's when Errol noticed why the body seemed so familiar. It was surrounded in bandages, save for a few parts that appeared to be mechanically modified (such as his left arm), but the eyes were still visible, though the eyelids themselves were shut. Errol remembered seeing it, and put his hands to his head, quietly groaning. He knew where he had seen that body before.

It was the same one in his dreams. Not the ones of Errol looking at himself, but the one of him being dragged along somewhere next to another, barely breathing man surrounded in bandages. That person was the one lying on the operating table.

_That wasn't a dream_, thought Errol, _That was a memory. But what about the other dreams? Those can't possibly be memories too?_

"We believe we've finally confirmed the identity of this body," said the African-American man, finally speaking after finding the page he was looking for, "We could only rely on a few DNA strands left from the explosion, but it seems to be very decisive."

"Well, we'll take what we can get for now, Dr. Dirk" said Dr. Mavos, the red haired one.

"So who is it?" asked Dr. Dreamer, the dark bearded one.

"Well, based on what we could get," said Dr. Dirk, "We believe this body belongs to, uh, Kaspar Corr."

While Dr. Dreamer and Dr. Mavos seemed to be relieved by this news, Miss Double and Miss Trouble looked horrified, though they tried not to show it.

"D-Did you say…" started Miss Double.

"Kaspar Corr?" finished Miss Trouble.

"You all know him?" asked Dr. Dirk.

This time, Dr. Dreamer and Dr. Mavos chuckled, with Dr. Dreamer saying, "Know him? Young man, Kaspar Corr is the reason we're all here."

"He's the brilliant mind behind Gemini Labs," added Dr. Mavos.

"As well as the father of our very own Errol Blunt," said Dr. Dreamer.

Miss Trouble and Miss Double struggled to hide their surprise and shock, whereas Errol had not. His head was spinning now.

_I have a father after all?_ He asked himself, _And he's sitting at that table?_

"I'm afraid I don't know very much about this Kaspar Corr," said Dr. Dirk, "But what about _that_ woman? Is _she_ his mother?"

"You mean Coral Blunt?" asked Dr. Mavos, "Yes, she's Errol's mother."

_AND a mother? Oh man…_

"So why is he all wrapped up like this?" asked Dr. Dirk.

"Well, a while back," started Dr. Dreamer, "Actually, it was almost a year ago, but Kaspar Corr went with Coral and Errol to a convention for scientists and biochemists like ourselves. Kaspar had brought something there he believed would put the field of Biochemistry at the top of the economic food chain, so to speak."

"What was it?" asked Dr. Dirk.

"We don't know," replied Dr. Mavos, "He never got the chance to reveal it. See, there was an accident at the convention. I don't know what started it, but by the time it was finished, the center where it was held was almost completely destroyed. I remember when Dr. Dreamer and I went with the emergency team to find our guys, and there was smoke and flames everywhere. By the time we arrived, Kaspar had already been bandaged, though we didn't correctly identify him at the time. I'm guessing there were doctors on sight helping him."

"In any case," continued Dr. Dreamer, "We found Coral next…she didn't fare so well. At least Kaspar _lived_. As soon as we paid tribute to her, we focused our efforts on not only recovering Kaspar, but also finding Errol, his only son."

"Except we didn't find him right away," added Dr. Mavos, "In fact, it wasn't until Kaspar started to speak again that we learned where he was. Kaspar, despite us not knowing who he was at the time, had said the words 'Errol…underground…the convention'. We searched the grounds after they were cleaned up, and found Errol hiding out in a bomb shelter underneath. I guess he was smart enough to clear out before things got too dangerous. But something was still different…"

"Different?" asked Dr. Dirk.

Dr. Dreamer filled in, "He appeared older than he was. He looked well to be in his twenties even though he is still just a teenager. We mostly figure it was a chemical imbalance resulting from the accident, but we're still looking into that. But although he appeared alive and well, he had more or less lost any memories he had prior to that point, and some of them are still fuzzy even to him."

"Kaspar then started saying something else," said Dr. Mavos, "He said he was too afraid to die, and directed us towards a concealed vault inside his chambers. Inside were blueprints to a mechanical body. We knew right away he wanted us to operate on him and give him this new body so he could stay as alive as possible."

"And even though we did not yet know who he was, we still knew it was Kaspar's wish to have these blueprints used on someone, so we figured best to use this new body."

"Whoa," said Dr. Dirk, "That's quite a story."

Miss Double and Miss Trouble excused themselves on the basis of 'feminine needs', just as Dr. Dreamer added, "Now that we know it really is Kaspar after all, we now know we shouldn't just _try_ to fix this body. We _must_ fix it."

"I just have one more question, if I'm not out of place," said Dr. Dirk, "What _was_ the accident at this convention?"

Dr. Dreamer and Dr. Mavos looked at each other in silence before Dr. Mavos replied, "We'd rather not speak of it. The accident at Tremorton hasn't been a comfortable subject for any of us."

Errol was extremely excited, more so than he had ever been in his life. Many of the questions he had were _just_ answered by eavesdropping on a conversation in a large surgery room hidden away from even his own eyes. But that was just it; _many_ questions were answered, but not _all_ of them. The only way he could get _all_ the answers was by making a trip to Tremorton, which Errol remembered the lady at the Java Lava mentioning while watching the news, and finding out for himself what happened at the convention. _Note to self_, he thought_, Make confidential trip to Tremorton…and maybe ask Kimi to accompany you_.

If Errol believed in God, he would be thanking him nonstop for the answers he just received. For now, he chalked it up to intuition.

* * *

Tommy and Dil were in the bathroom during lunch period, conveniently in the stalls next to each other. Both tried to avoid talking to each other during private "business", but Dil's habit of eating gassy foods at lunch prevented Tommy from not expressing his disgust from time to time. And because they were in the stalls towards the other end, they were not seen by the three figures entering. Two of them wore black sneakers with jeans, while one of them was wearing flip flops. Tommy, looking down at them, found it odd that a guy would paint his toes green, until he realized that this person was not a guy. In fact, when she opened her voice, he realized it belonged to Ashley!

"Okay, Ashley, what is so important?" asked Devin, "There's only so many times I can take bathroom breaks during class!"

"And I don't exactly blend in with people your age," added Roarke.

"Miss Double and Miss Trouble contacted me this morning," said Ashley.

Though Tommy could not see her face, he could instantly sense the horror in her voice.

"Kaspar Corr is at Gemini Labs," said Ashley.

There was brief moment of silence that allowed all individuals presents to hear the dripping of a sink and the cooling of the vents before Devin broke the silence.

"No way," laughed Devin, "That cocksucker's dead! The boss said so!"

Roarke, however, appeared gravely demoralized. Ashley looked even harder at Devin to illustrate the point being made.

"He's…not actually dead, is he?" asked Devin.

"No," replied Ashley, "He's alive and in surgery. If they're really doing what we were told they were doing, Kaspar Corr will be back in action in due time, and will definitely come after us first."

"SON OF A BITCH!" shouted Roarke, pounding the wall angrily. To the surprise of his comrades, a dent was left where he punched the wall.

"What's wrong?" asked Devin.

"You two are relatively young and new, and so you only _know_ of the threat Kaspar posed," said Roarke, not turning to face them, "Me and the others…we faced him head on, and it was not pleasant. Our noble group was once much larger than it is today. Thanks to Kaspar, the day of the dreaded convention where he planned to unveil an unthinkable threat, those of us left are only a fraction of what we used to be. He took countless lives, even that of my older brother."

Devin and Ashley could tell Roarke struggled to hold tears back from falling.

"So when I first heard that Kaspar was killed by the end of that day, I thought it might have been righteous retribution," continued Roarke, "That even though my brother and many of my friends died, their sacrifice would have at least stopped Kaspar and the threat of that invention for good. But now…now they may as well have died for nothing. Not if Kaspar still survived."

"We'll definitely have to deal with this quickly," said Ashley, "But when should we talk to the others in full?"

"The Rendezvous Date at Splash Mountain," replied Devin, "That's the only day all of us can be together at one time."

As the three individuals left, Tommy and Dil snuck out of their stalls to not only wash their hands, but also give each other the same look; the look that basically said "Don't tell anyone what we've seen or heard…yet."


	8. Z and TT

Angelica's mood had gone from bad to worse. When she agreed to compensate Errol in return for the "boyfriend" guise, she didn't expect to be making weekly payments to him. It wasn't a lot compared to what her parents paid in taxes, but enough to prevent her from buying the new shoes (or coat, or earrings, or whatever trend she switched to the next day) she had been spying on. Today, she was at the bank withdrawing a small amount of cash to properly compensate Errol.

In a shady part of town (the last place one should establish banking services), most pickpockets and thugs hung around the bank to rob people of their money. Not the two hiding in the nearby hedge wall. These two were looking to pull off a kidnapping. And money had nothing to do with it.

"You're absolutely sure she's Errol's boyfriend?" asked Roarke, scratching his arms from bug bites.

"Positive," replied Devin, pulling a mask over his head while Roarke did the same, "Ashley and I go to school with them, and this fling is all anyone talks about lately. That's proof enough she's connected to Errol."

"What about that Kimi girl?" asked Roarke, "Isn't she connected to him too?"

"We'll deal with her soon enough," replied Devin.

A moment of silence followed as Roarke swatted a fly off his elbow. In hindsight, he probably should not have worn a short sleeved shirt inside a hedge wall, no matter how well it was camouflaged.

"I still don't see why we're wasting our time on Errol," said Roarke, "True, he's dangerous, but Kaspar is far worse and the more immediate threat."

"You know the high security at those labs as well as I do," said Devin, "Even people of our skills could never get in and walk out alive. Errol is our best chance at stopping Kaspar from whatever he's scheming this time."

"Well couldn't Miss Double and Miss Trouble just finish him off there?" asked Roarke, "They're insiders, they've seen the body, why don't they do the dirty work?"

"The boss doesn't want those two doing anything right now," replied Devin, "Going too fast will alert the honchos at Gemini Labs we're on the move."

Roarke grunted before adding, "I find it sad that despite my greater knowledge of Kaspar and longer time in service, you still command more respect than me."

"Get out in the field more often," replied Devin, "You might get it there."

Devin and Roarke ended their conversation once they saw Angelica successfully make a withdrawal and begin her walk back. Before she could turn the corner, strong hands grabbed her from behind. It was her own rotten luck that no one was around to witness. Otherwise, they'd see two masked men using chloroform on a young teenage girl and carrying her unconscious into the grey Honda Civic.

* * *

"I think she's waking up…"

Angelica, tied to a chair with a towel stuffed into her mouth, finally came to. Though she didn't know what happened, she knew a hostage situation when she saw one, and in this case, _she_ was the hostage. Devin and Ashley sat behind the two-way mirror to the left of Angelica in order to avoid Angelica making the connection between them and her own school life. Roarke was right in there with her, sitting on a nearby table next to a tall Asian woman in red high heels and several golden bracelets. Rather classy attire for the occasion.

"Angelica Pickles," said Roarke, putting on black gloves, "Errol's current girlfriend, I presume?"

Angelica started to struggle, but only fell on her face when the chair tipped over. Roarke picked it back up and tried to calm her down.

"Now this won't take long," Roarke reassured her, "We're only going to ask a few questions and you'll be free to go. Of course, you can't just go telling people about this, so we will have someone keeping their eye on you, but other than that, we won't hurt a pretty little hair on your head."

The Asian woman walked towards her and pulled out a photograph from her leather purse. She showed it to Angelica, asking "Do you know anyone else in this photo?" Rather than typical eastern dialect, the woman spoke perfect English.

The photograph was, of course, one of Errol, but his parents, Kaspar Corr and Coral Blunt, were also in the background writing a formula on the blackboard there. Of course, Angelica had no knowledge of Errol's family life (or lack, thereof) and could not possibly know the significance of such a photo.

Angelica's towel was taken out of her mouth, and immediately started shouting, "NOBODY KIDNAPS ANGELICA PICKLES AND LIVES TO TELL ABOUT IT! WHEN I GET OUT OF HERE AND TELL THE POLICE YOU BETTER START SAYING YOUR PRAYERS!"

Angelica's outburst was met with a swift kick to the head. It did not come from Roarke, however, rather the Asian woman who had left Angelica bleeding from her mouth and left a black mark next to her lips.

"Now, I did tell you we'd have someone watching you to make sure you wouldn't do what you just threatened to do," said Roarke, "And I'm nice enough to take your word of honor, but Ming here is…_not_ so nice. As loathe as I am to admit, she's far more deadly than me, and doesn't hesitate to show it."

"Let's try this again," Ming said and then repeated her question, "Do you know anyone else in this photo?"

One kick seemed to be all it took for Angelica to learn her lesson. She answered the question honestly.

"No…just Errol."

"Now, tell us," said Ming, "How long have you and Errol been dating?"

"WHAT KIND OF KIDNAPPER TORTURES ME FOR INFORMATION ABOUT MY LOVE LIFE?"

Ming prepared for another swift kick, until Angelica begged, "O-Okay, okay! Two weeks tomorrow!"

"Not a long time," Ming told Roarke, "She may not know enough about him to be of use to us."

"But surely he's divulged some of his secrets to her?" wondered Roarke, "It's his girlfriend after all."

"Well how far do you think they've gone?" asked Ming.

"Well I should hope they've at least kissed," said Roarke, "Two weeks is all it takes to kiss, _maybe_ make out. I wouldn't expect them to have gone all the way, but…" Roarke took Angelica's face and observed the hint of eyeliner and makeup on it, "She looks like she _might_ be the type that puts on for shits and giggles."

"Oh don't even go there," said Angelica, "I'd bite your head off if I wasn't tied up. If you must know, I pay him to _pretend_ to be my boyfriend so nobody asks me about my love life. I know nothing about his personal life other than he lives in that boring old laboratory north of town."

_Boring old laboratory_, thought Roarke, _If that's how she phrases it, she can't possibly have any knowledge of what goes on there_.

"It seems we've wasted your time, Ming," said Roarke, sitting back down on the table, "She won't be able to help us reach Errol."

"I thought we were going to simply kill him?" asked Ming.

"That was before Kaspar Corr's survival became a factor in this equation," replied Roarke, "Now we need him to live a little longer in order to use him."

_Great_, thought Angelica, _Plenty of cute singly boys to pay off to pretend to be my boyfriend, and I had to pick the one with thugs trying to kill him_.

From behind the mirror, Devin and Ashley were entertained by the new knowledge that Errol was being _paid_ to be Angelica's boyfriend. In fact, it took a while for them to stop laughing.

"I haven't had a laugh like that on the job in so long," laughed Ashley, wiping a tear from her eye.

"Me neither," replied Devin.

A third individual had, in fact, been sitting in on the ordeal. And he had just received a buzz on his beeper for a meeting he had scheduled. Standing up, he brushed though his green hair briefly before bidding the other two a good night.

"Not that this isn't fun," said Z, "But I've got to talk to this T.T that wrote to us."

* * *

Sitting out in the cold under a wet tree knowing that all your friends were at home near a warm fire watching Yu-Gotta-Go or that Spanish soap opera was not at the top of Z's list of wants, but it was certainly something he needed to do. The tree was located in a small park with this tree and a tiny lake, a park that was halfway between his home town and the city known as Dimmsdale. And it was also where he was supposed to meet this "T.T". He had responded to his message by giving the location of this park to meet there without prying eyes to watch him, but to recap, he opened up his kindle to read the message that had brought him out here in the first place.

"_To Whom It May Concern; I have heard the name of your organization whispered among others. They say you're fighting Gemini Biochemistry Laboratories with the intention of bringing their projects down for good. I have a request to make of you, but I'm not asking it for free: I also have information that may be of interest to you. Please be quick in your response. We're all facing dark times, and I may lose more friends by the time you respond. Sincerely, T.T."_

When Z looked up from the letter, he had laid his eyes upon a young woman walking up to him underneath the tree. No, not a woman…a girl. A girl not much younger than Z. She wore white sneakers that were now dirty from the mud underneath the tree, as well as red pants. Her purple hoodie covered her face, but when she pulled it off, Z saw the face of a young Asian-American girl with long black hair and a purple headband with eyeliner around her eyes.

"You're T.T?" asked Z.

"Good, then you're the one I'm supposed to meet," she replied, "My real name is Trixie Tang, but don't tell any of your friends that."

"Your secret's safe with me," replied Z, "You said you had a request, and some information, for us?"

"Yes, I'll start with the request first," Trixie said, trying to compose herself, "Well, I'm sure you know Gemini Labs have been sending cities down to the ground in bankruptcy. They've been taking control of the city governments this way. Well, my family is one of the moneyed elite of Dimmsdale, so naturally we're affected more by what they're doing."

"Go on."

"My father invested in one of their projects, and was promised huge profits in return for his contribution. But when the Mayor filed for bankruptcy, my father told Gemini Labs that he wanted out."

"They didn't take that sitting down, did they?"

"No, they didn't. They threatened my father with all kinds of lawsuits and other things that would put the Tang family at the bottom of the financial food chain. And, yes, that's pretty bad, but I thought that was the worst thing to happen."

Trixie had stopped to take a breath. Z could tell she struggled to talk about what came next. He saw it in her eyes and heard it in her voice.

"My parents both woke me up one night to tell me to come with them. But they didn't just walk me out, they picked me up and ran out. And that's when I saw them. The men in the jumpsuits, wearing bags and goggles over their heads. Gemini Labs sent them to raid our mansion. My dad hid me outside in the hedge maze and told me to run. But instead I hid and watched him turn around to try and get help. But then…my mom…she tripped and fell down, and there were five or six of them surrounding her and…"

Trixie Tang had then wrapped Z up in a rough hug, crying into his shoulders.

"They _murdered_ my mom! They killed her and I just sat there watching! And then they took my dad away and I just _barely_ made it out alive and now they're occupying the mansion doing who-knows-what and…"

"It's okay, it'll be alright," said Z, rubbing her back to calm her down.

Trixie Tang had not stopped for a breath at all during her breakdown, but was now able to compose himself better.

"I'm sorry," said Trixie, "I didn't mean to break down in front of you like that."

"It's okay," replied Z, "You lost your mom. That's nothing to not cry about. They did the same to mine."

"Your mom was killed too?" asked Trixie.

"By men that fit the description you gave, no less," said Z, "I think it's their MO. A lot of us in our organization have lost our moms."

"All of you?" asked Trixie, "What kind of people are you?"

"A government division that has _not_ been corrupted by Washington bureaucrats," replied Z, "A division that actually has the balls to stand up to Gemini Labs." Z cleared his throat before asking, "Now, what was this request you made?"

"Um, it's two, actually," replied Trixie, "The first one is that I want asylum. I want somewhere safe to stay until this whole thing blows over…if it ever does."

"If you follow me back to my hometown, my boss can get you situated somewhere they won't look for you. The second?"

"If you can," said Trixie, "Save my father. He might still be alive, but knowing what they did to my mother…I'm worried they won't keep him that way for long."

Z thought about this one a little longer, leaving Trixie worried he might say no.

"We can have someone sneak in to look around," said Z, "If it's worse than you say, we can have some of our guys rescue him and get him to safety, hopefully near you. If he's being treated well and they intend to keep him alive, we'll have to wait a while before the boss can approve action."

"Thank you," said Trixie, "Oh, and one more thing before we go."

"Oh right," said Z, "The information you said you had. Let's hear it."

"Well, it might be more of a _clue_ than actual information, but it might help someone who knows more about them than me," replied Trixie, "Two of those men were standing near me while I was hiding, and for the strangest reason, struck up a conversation right there."

"What were they talking about?" asked Z.

"Not anything important at first," replied Trixie, "One was talking about a girlfriend back at home, and the other was complaining about the night shift, but then…one of them brought up somebody named Errol Blunt. I don't know who that is, but the first one was complaining about how the majority of their missions were all for the sake of this one person, and the other replied, 'All this for _one_ person? Why do you think we're called _Gemini_ Labs?'"

Trixie saw Z ponder before saying, "I'm not sure what that means, but it might help you more."

Z didn't say much other than, "Yeah, let's head home. We can take you somewhere safe."

As Z and Trixie entered the small, worn-out car that served as transportation for Z the first time around, Z pondered the emphasis on Gemini. He started getting his suspicions from that clue, but…even Gemini Labs wouldn't go that far, would they?

The surprising survival of Kaspar Corr marked first on their group's worries, but if Z's suspicions were true, they would come close to second.


End file.
